Short collection of even shorter stories
by winky's wand
Summary: Collection of short hp stories


(I haven't been on here in alonnggg while,even missed an message about a contest I should have entered :( anywhoo I got a notification from somewhere safe, glad you guys still like that, and my mind went back to these stories I'd written a while back for the hp page I used to admin so here are a few)

Student exchange

Neville rounded the corner just in time to see the two students drawing wands while a crowd of eager onlookers held their breaths. The Gryffindor student, Archie, attacked first, sending a stunning spell. "Protego!" Sounded Neville, students gasped and disappeared like well magic, when they saw the source of the spell, soon only the two duellers were left. "Who would like to start first?" He said sounding a lot calmer than he actually was

"He started it!" Shouted Archie quickly

"No I didn't professor! I didn't look where I was going and I bumped into him, before I could even apologize he called me death eater kid and told me to stay away from him." Neville heard the hurt and anger in his voice and had no doubt he was telling the truth.

"Archie you and I are going to be spending some quality time for a month." Said Neville.

"But professor you can't believe the word of a.."

"Of a what? A fellow student? You think hard and long before you finish that sentence mister James. And you Mr turret, you may not have started it but they're other ways of finishing it. I'll be speaking to your head of house and have him decide how to discipline you."

"Yes sir." He answered before walking off.

"I'll also be writing you're parents a letter Archie, calling a fellow students parent a death eater is no joking matter. And if you think him being a slytherin gives you that right then you have learnt nothing of how far we have come since the war. I'm very disappointed in you, I'll see you in my office at 7pm tonight.

But as he taught the rest of his classes it couldn't leave his mind, and he felt detention wasn't enough and that something else, something bigger needed to be done and he knew just what it was.

"A student exchange?" Repeated McGonagall looking at him strangely.

"Yes, just listen. We still have problems with arguments and sometimes outright duels between students of different house, and I think its time we take a different approach to this by making them take a different approach to it, a month in another house, they're assigned to a buddy and will go to classes with that house, eat at that table. For that month they will fully and completely be in that house and maybe just maybe they'll come out better for it."

"You already have students in mind for this?" She queried trying not to give away that she was already sold on the idea

"I may" replied neville with a smile.

"You're aware we'll have to notify the parents incase this goes badly."

"We don't have to specify though do we?"

McGonagall laughed "not exactly."

The announcement was made at dinner on Saturday. Archie James to slytherin paired with Phillip turret, Alison Spincer to Gryffindor paired with Victoire weasley, Benjamin Brown to ravenclaw paired with Jason Bark and Elizabeth Johnson to hufflepuff paired with Angelina Thomas.

Neville wish he could say it was smooth sailing, but with the students he had selected he was wise enough to know better. The first week involved a few dozen badly placed jinxes, tears and begging to go back to their respective houses. Second week saw the solemnly resigned to their fate with glares and silence. The third week say the beginning of promise, victoire gave Alison a make over after she grudgingly admitted that maybe victoire was not all beauty and no brain. Elizabeth and Angelina were caught making out (they broke up a few months later but somehow remained good friends) , Benjamin and Jason both found common ground in their muggle heritage and could be seen in deep discussion about their favorite soccer players. Phillip and Archie were a little more difficult, speaking to each other only when necessary until the middle of the third week when Phillip swore out loud during his homework before saying "you'd think magic would have a cure for dyslexia, stupid thing." He growled and pushed away his homework.

"What are you looking at?" He said angrily when he saw Archie looking at him strangely.

"I didn't know you were dyslexic " he replied.

"You don't know lots of things about me " he replied getting up to walk away, he couldn't wait for this stupid thing to be over.

"I know some tips that could help." Archie said after him.

"And why should I listen to you?" He heard him sigh before he answered

"Because I'm dyslexic too."

"Oh, ok." Was all he could say as he sat back down.

At the end of the month friendships were made and mindsets were changed, and the next month and the month after. It wasn't alway perfect and no not all were lifelong trial enduring together forever friendships, some were just a constant wave or smile as they passed each other in the halls, but it was enough to remind them that four houses they may be but they were still only one school.

Mail day

"Mail's here!" Called Hermione as she dried her hands, Ron never understood why she chose to do the dishes the muggle way sometimes, honestly neither did she sometimes. She smiled as she heard him making his way downstairs, trying and failing not to rush. It was the Saturday after sending the children off to school and this letter no doubt contained news of Hugo's sorting, this was going to be interesting. She took a seat at the table as he came into the kitchen.

"You wanna read it?" He asked handing Hugo's letter to her while setting rose's aside. Hermione smiled and took it.

"Hi mom and dad. I'm settling in great, already made friends. The feast was even better than dad described, I've never seen so much food in my life! I may have eaten too much though." Hermione stopped and laughed, he's so different from his father yet so much alike she thought.

"Come on get to the good stuff Hermione." Said Ron and Hermione glared at him before continuing.

"Classes don't start until Monday so I'm just getting to know the place. Oh by the way I got sorted into slytherin, love you guys!" Ron buried his heas in his hands and groaned

"I knew it I just knew it, this is what I get for laughing st malfoy after his son got sorted into Gryffindor." He made a strange sound in the back of his throat.

"Are you crying Ron?" Asked Hermione, planning to jinx him to tomorrow if he was.

"No, no I just can he get a transfer? Maybe their can be a do over." He looked up hopefully and Hermione kicked him under the table.

"I swear Ron if you think I'd let you do that" she said crossly.

"But Hermione there's never been a weasley in slytherin." He whined sounding like a child who hadn't gotten the gift he wanted for Christmas.

"A few years ago there weren't weasleys in ravenclaw or hufflepuff either and if we were honest with ourself we would admit or rather you would admit that a part of you expected it didn't you?"

"Yess." He said as if it was torn from him. "Do you think he's ok, I joked about disowning him if he got sorted into slytherin. Oh god maybe I should write malfoy and ask for his advice, he's experienced in these things." He looked so lost that Hermione couldn't help but to get up and kiss him on his cheek, he looked like he was on emotional overload.

"Just remember one thing, slytherin has changed plenty since we left school, and if you need anymore proof than than just look at your amazing son who is now a slytherin. Don't take too long to write him back though, I think he's not as calm and collected as he always wants you to think, you know how much he looks up to you."

"I know, I'll just..." He paused as a strange owl landed on the window with a letter. Hermione went to get it,

"It's from Draco!" she said in surprise. Ron took it from her and tore it open.

"In your face weasley!" Read Ron flabbergasted. Hermione burst out laughing, she laughed even harder when she read rose's letter asking if she could get Hugo's roon now that he was disowned.

Andromeda Tonks was a strong woman, but even strong women had their breaking point. Losing her husband had been hard enough but losing her son in law who she had grown to love and her only daughter at the hands of her own sister was almost more than she could bear. It was teddy who kept her from spiraling completely into insanity. Knowing that her daughter asked her to look after him, not only that night of the war but every night after if they didn't come back. So she stayed for teddy, she got stronger for teddy and through teddy she found a bit of piece she never would have thought possible. She still had bad days, days when she woke up with Ted's name on her lips, or teddy would smile his little mischievous smile and be the spitting image of Tonks and it was all she could do not to burst out in tears. But the bad days grew less and less, until they were no more, because she had finally found peace, back in the arms of her husband and daughter. They had a lot of catching up to do...

Second Chances

Hermione looked at the test results again, a part of her soared with joy even as she felt the darkness that was fear clutch at her heart. "Hermione?" Ron called from the other side of the door, the worry was evident in his voice. "You've been in there a while, is everything ok?"

"Everything's fine I'll be out in a minute." She answered as she flushed the toilet and washed her hands. When she came out Ron was waiting at the door looking worried. He had stopped watching her every move in the last months when things seemed to be returning to normal but he had begun to hover again in the last few days as if sensing something.

"What's going on hermione? And don't say nothing" he finished as she opened her mouth to say the just that.

"I thought maybe I was pregnant" she paused. "Turns out I was right."

"That's great!" He exclaimed as his face broke into a smile and he scooped her up, she stayed stiff in his arms and he quickly set her down. "At least I think it is." He finished sadly.

"Have you forgotten what happened last time?" She whispered as if afraid to stir the memories.

"Of course I remember Hermione! But are you going to let what happened then stop you from enjoying the second chance we've been given?"

"That's easy for you to say!" She bit out angrily.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"I can't go through it again."

"So what then? Do you want to get rid of our baby?" He asked angrily

"Of course not!" She shouted

"Then what?!" He shouted

"I'm scared damn it! I'm afraid that I'm broken and its all my fault we lost our baby and I'm afraid of getting hopeful again only to have it slip away." Her voice broke on the last word.

"You think I'm not scared too? You think I didn't feel what you went through. I may not have been carrying our baby but I felt its loss as much as you did. Hermione I started picturing red haired boy or maybe even twins then all of a sudden it was gone and then you were going too. You shut me out and I felt helpless because I was losing everything I loved in one go. But now we have another chance, we have another baby" his eyes shone with unshed tears as his large hands spanned her stomach.

"And what if I'm broken after everything that happened? She asked again.

"If you're broken then I'm shattered but we can hold our pieces together and get through this." He replied as he buried his face in her untamed hair.

"When did you get so smart?" She asked after a long pause, her words muffled as her face was buried in his chest.

"Must have something to do with living with the smartest witch." He said with a smile.

She smiled through her tears even though she was still scared, the fear probably wasn't going away anytime soon. But unheeded she saw images of bushy haired girls and red haired boys and she couldn't stiffle the small feeling that this time, just maybe it would end differently...

Afterlife epilogues

weasley opened his eyes slowly. He felt like he was waking up from a long nap, the ones that left you wondering what year it was. He sat up and almost bumped forehead with Albus Dumbledore, he gave a shout of surprise. "Bloody hell aren't you supposed to be you know dead?" He whispered the last word as if afraid to offend.

"I am my boy" he answered in a sad voice, his blue eyes observed Fred with deep sadness.

"Oh" that's all he could muster, for the first time in his life, or afterlife rather he was speechless. A small laugh bubbled up from his lips and it quickly turned to a sob. "We promised we wouldn't leave each other no matter what, we never broke our promises." He looked at Dumbledore with pleading eyes, silently asking for help, but there was none to be had, not the one he wanted at least.

"My boy your brother will understand and he will not be hold it against. That is, or was rather war."

Fred paused "so its over now? You-know-who is dead?"

"Indeed he is." Said Dumbledore

"And George, he's-" his voice broke "he's gonna be ok? My family everyone else is ok?"

"Physically they are ok. Emotionally they're not, and won't be for a while especially George. But you knew that already." Fred nodded, unable to speak.

"I wouldn't be ok, I don't think I'd ever be ok if it was the other way."

"But it is the other way also isn't it? You lost you're brother, your parents and your other siblings just as much as they've lost you." Fred turned to the new voice, Sirius was behind him looking better than he could ever remember seeing him, and so was lupin and a dark haired man who looked like harry.

"But you'll see them again, hopefully it takes you longer than it took us." Fred smiled, it felt good.

"I'm sorry lupin"

"So am I Fred, but James has figured out a way to ease our pain. Come spy on our family with us. You can be the new fourth marauder" Sirius winked as Fred stared at them in surprise.

2\. James said this would help him but it only made him feel worse, seeing the pain his brother was in, watching him pull away from his loved ones and being able to do nothing was so hard. It was little over five months since the battle, since he had died and a difficult few months it had been (shouldn't he be at peace?). Time also moved slower here, only the continuous watching of his family let him know what time it was where they were. He wish he could stop watching them, at least for a month, but like an addict who needed his fix he went back to the pool, went back to watching george wither away while becoming a different person, a bitter and angry person. Fred had yet to see him smile, the rest of his family was slowly getting better but not George, and seeing him this way was harder than Fred's actual death.

"Maybe you should take a break Fred?" Said James as he sat down beside him, Fred was slowly getting used to the fact that this young man, only a year older than him was Harry's father and prongs, he kept thinking "oh man George is gonna kill harry when I tell him who the marauders were" then he would remember he couldn't.

"Did you take a break all those times harry almost died? Asked Fred.

"No" he said with a sad smile, "I screamed at this stupid thing and at my inability to do anything, sometimes I think figuring out how this works was a curse" he finished as he looked down and the water swirled to show a haggard looking harry, he had been having trouble sleeping the past few months. "But then I remember all the things I got to witness and I take it all back. I'll leave you alone for a while" Fred smiled his gratitude. He looked back at the water which once again showed a sleeping George.

"George I wish I could talk to you. Tell you how sorry I am that I broke our promise and that I never got to say goodbye. But you can't let voldemort continue to win, you can't let my death be in vain, you have to keep living, for the both of us because I can't do it any longer and I can't watch you killing yourself slowly and painfully anymore, its like I'm dying all over again Freddy, please."

George jumped up out of his sleep and looked around, "who's there? You think this is funny?"

"George what is it?" Came Ginny soft voice as she slowly opened the door "are you ok?"

"I thought I heard. I thought, nothing its nothing." He grumbled turning to anger once more.

"Do you want me to bring you dinner? You haven't eaten since

yesterday morning."

"N-' he paused, all that he had heard replaying in his head, when had he and Fred ever been quitters? "Maybe I'll come down for dinner today. I'm gonna shower." He went to the bathroom and didn't see the tears that fell from Ginny's eyes as she smiled and closed the door

"Thanks Fred, I know you did this somehow." Ginny whispered.

"You're gonna have to tell me how you did that one because even James hasn't managed that" said lupin softly making Fred jump.

"I have no idea" he replied as he wiped his eyes.


End file.
